Diabetes mellitus is a serious disease afflicting over 100 million people worldwide. In the United States, there are more than 12 million diabetics, with 600,000 new cases diagnosed each year.
Diabetes mellitus is a diagnostic term for a group of disorders characterized by abnormal glucose homeostasis resulting in elevated blood sugar. There are many types of diabetes, but the two most common are Type I (also referred to as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or IDDM) and Type II (also referred to as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or NIDDM).
The etiology of the different types of diabetes is not the same; however, everyone with diabetes has two things in common: overproduction of glucose by the liver and little or no ability to move glucose out of the blood into the cells where it becomes the body's primary fuel.
People who do not have diabetes rely on insulin, a hormone made in the pancreas, to move glucose from the blood into the cells of the body. However, people who have diabetes either don't produce insulin or can't efficiently use the insulin they produce; therefore, they can't move glucose into their cells. Glucose accumulates in the blood creating a condition called hyperglycemia, and over time, can cause serious health problems.
Diabetes is a syndrome with interrelated metabolic, vascular, and neuropathic components. The metabolic syndrome, generally characterized by hyperglycemia, comprises alterations in carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism caused by absent or markedly reduced insulin secretion and/or ineffective insulin action. The vascular syndrome consists of abnormalities in the blood vessels leading to cardiovascular, retinal and renal complications. Abnormalities in the peripheral and autonomic nervous systems are also part of the diabetic syndrome.
People with IDDM, which accounts for about 5% to 10% of those who have diabetes, don't produce insulin and therefore must inject insulin to keep their blood glucose levels normal. IDDM is characterized by low or undetectable levels of endogenous insulin production caused by destruction of the insulin-producing β cells of the pancreas, the characteristic that most readily distinguishes IDDM from NIDDM. IDDM, once termed juvenile-onset diabetes, strikes young and older adults alike.
Approximately 90 to 95% of people with diabetes have Type II (or NIDDM). NIDDM subjects produce insulin, but the cells in their bodies are insulin resistant: the cells don't respond properly to the hormone, so glucose accumulates in their blood. NIDDM is characterized by a relative disparity between endogenous insulin production and insulin requirements, leading to elevated blood glucose levels. In contrast to IDDM, there is always some endogenous insulin production in NIDDM; many NIDDM patients have normal or even elevated blood insulin levels, while other NIDDM patients have inadequate insulin production (Rotwein, R. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 308, 65-71 (1983)). Most people diagnosed with NIDDM are age 30 or older, and half of all new cases are age 55 and older. Compared with whites and Asians, NIDDM is more common among Native Americans, African-Americans, Latinos, and Hispanics. In addition, the onset can be insidious or even clinically inapparent, making diagnosis difficult.
The primary pathogenic lesion on NIDDM has remained elusive. Many have suggested that primary insulin resistance of the peripheral tissues is the initial event. Genetic epidemiological studies have supported this view. Similarly, insulin secretion abnormalities have been argued as the primary defect in NIDDM. It is likely that both phenomena are important contributors to the disease process (Rimoin, D. L., et. al. Emery and Rimoin's Principles and Practice of Medical Genetics 3rd Ed. 1:1401-1402 (1996)).
Many people with NIDDM have sedentery lifestyles and are obese; they weigh approximately 20% more than the recommended weight for their height and build. Furthermore, obesity is characterized by hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance, a feature shared with NIDDM, hypertension and atherosclerosis.
Obesity and diabetes are among the most common human health problems in industrialized societies. In industrialized countries a third of the population is at least 20% overweight. In the United States, the percentage of obese people has increased from 25% at the end of the 1970s, to 33% at the beginning the 1990s. Obesity is one of the most important risk factors for NIDDM. Definitions of obesity differ, but in general, a subject weighing at least 20% more than the recommended weight for his/her height and build is considered obese. The risk of developing NIDDM is tripled in subjects 30% overweight, and three-quarters with NIDDM are overweight.
Obesity, which is the result of an imbalance between caloric intake and energy expenditure, is highly correlated with insulin resistance and diabetes in experimental animals and human. However, the molecular mechanisms that are involved in obesity-diabetes syndromes are not clear. During early development of obesity, increase insulin secretion balances insulin resistance and protects patients from hyperglycemia (Le Stunff, et al. Diabetes 43, 696-702 (1989)). However, after several decades, β cell function deteriorates and non-insulin-dependent diabetes develops in about 20% of the obese population (Pederson, P. Diab. Metab. Rev. 5, 505-509 (1989)) and (Brancati, F. L., et al., Arch. Intern. Med. 159, 957-963 (1999)). Given its high prevalence in modern societies, obesity has thus become the leading risk factor for NIDDM (Hill, J. O., et al., Science 280, 1371-1374 (1998)). However, the factors which predispose a fraction of patients to alteration of insulin secretion in response to fat accumulation remain unknown.
Whether someone is classified as overweight or obese is generally determined on the basis of their body mass index (BMI) which is calculated by dividing body weight (kg) by height squared (m2). Thus, the units of BMI are kg/m2 and it is possible to calculate the BMI range associated with minimum mortality in each decade of life. Overweight is defined as a BMI in the range 25-30 kg/m2, and obesity as a BMI greater than 30 kg/m2 (see TABLE below). There are problems with this definition in that it does not take into account the proportion of body mass that is muscle in relation to fat (adipose tissue). To account for this, obesity can also be defined on the basis of body fat content: greater than 25% and 30% in males and females, respectively.